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Just talked to Racing Beat again. He said they got "all the parts" in for their dual mufflers, so mufflers and full systems should start shipping by next weekend.
I just received an email from RB asking if I still wanted the exhaust system - I replied yes and it's now shown up on my credit card (at the original price) -- so it looks to me like they are in fact shipping. Yay!
That's great. I was talking to MazdaTrix a couple days ago and asked if there were any updates on the exhaust I paid them for on 3/01/21. They said no, and they had given up on calling RB to ask. The guy sounded pretty frustrated with RB. I asked if RB had gone to a new manufacturer or changed the muffler design and he said he didn't know. Said the only change he was aware of was that RB's owner used to do it for the Rotary community and now was doing it for max profits, and that it was showing in the quality.
He did say the headers and center sections were still well made, but that they (Mazdatrix) hadn't been impressed with the mufflers for a while.
I hope this new batch is made decently. His statement actually makes me feel better, because when I complained here about the sound of my new RB muffler (2 years ago) I got pushback from all the guys with 10 and 20 yo systems. I knew it wasn't just me.
Well I hope the new mufflers are acceptable. What if they are too quiet now? Seems this is what caused the change originally. Difficult to please everyone.
Just happy they still make parts for old rotaries...
Well, my exhaust did not ship. The email on 3/25 was just an invoice saying that payment had been approved and the set would be shipping UPS ground. But it has not shipped.
Just talked to the old man at Mazdatrix. He said they are getting individual exhaust pieces from RB but not full systems yet.
EDITED - I took out any conversations I had with businesses.
Last edited by Maxwedge; Apr 14, 2021 at 02:58 PM.
Jim Mederer passed away in 2017. I'm not sure how much the other founder, Takayuki Oku, is involved in the day to day business. All the articles and tech stuff over the years were written by Mederer.
That's a bummer! Mine did actually ship - I received it several weeks ago. However, when I opened up the boxes to check everything out I found that both of the header gaskets had been crumpled during shipment. I sent an email to RB asking what they would like me to do about it, and they immediately shipped out replacements. I haven't installed anything yet, but I'll probably get to it in the next few weeks...
It is sad to here about a hear about the apparent demise of a company with such a legacy. But until they screw me I'll choose to consider them just internet rumors and hope for the best.
That's a bummer! Mine did actually ship - I received it several weeks ago. However, when I opened up the boxes to check everything out I found that both of the header gaskets had been crumpled during shipment. I sent an email to RB asking what they would like me to do about it, and they immediately shipped out replacements. I haven't installed anything yet, but I'll probably get to it in the next few weeks...
It is sad to here about a hear about the apparent demise of a company with such a legacy. But until they screw me I'll choose to consider them just internet rumors and hope for the best.
Hope you get what you ordered soon!
So you tell us about the sucking double pipe system. Some pictures of the new muffler would be interessting. A lot of people mix the systems they tell about.
So you tell us about the sucking double pipe system.
Hmm... I think you have me confused with someone else -- I've not commented about the double-pipe system sucking???
I bought the complete Street Port Exhaust for 79-85 12A. I didn't take any pics of it but it looks just like the pics on the RacingBeat website. Header to dual-pipes, dual pipe center section, and dual pipes into the muffler.
Everything looks to be stainless. I doubt I'll be too critical about the sound as I'm more interested in it not rattling and hopefully giving me a performance boost (over stock).
Jim Mederer passed away in 2017. I'm not sure how much the other founder, Takayuki Oku, is involved in the day to day business. All the articles and tech stuff over the years were written by Mederer.
he was such a nice guy, i got to talk to him at one sevenstock, and he sounded just like the catalog
Everything looks to be stainless. I doubt I'll be too critical about the sound as I'm more interested in it not rattling and hopefully giving me a performance boost (over stock).
Your RB exhaust system will work with the stock exhaust ports und you will get round about 15/20 hp over stock cause the flow is really good. The high energie pulses of a big exhaust port will overheat the small muffler and result in a very noisy and not streetable sound. Your neighbour will start to begin to hate you. Good luck and post a soundfile with describtion of your exhaust ports.
I got my 13B StreetPort full exhaust delivered today. It won't be installed until I put the new engine in later this summer, so I can only comment on the looks and apparent build quality. The fitment and sound reviews will have to wait.
The muffler and twin pipes into it are all stainless and pretty. They look like the same decent build quality as my single-pipe exhaust I got in late 2018. The main can and tips look basically identical to that one.
Welds are so-so, meaning they should hold fine and not leak, but they aren't the prettiest..
Two interesting things about the design - On my single exhaust the pipe enters in about the middle, so you can't see it when you look down either tail spout. But on this one both inlets are on the left side (towards center of car). So you can see both inlet pipes by looking in the one outlet pipe. Wonder if the sound would be any different if they were lined up with the tail spouts, or if there was a larger, single tail spout instead of two. Hmmm.
And while my old tail spouts exited at the bottom of the muffler and offset up about an inch, these exit near the center and offset down slightly. Not sure if there's any significance to that.
The header was also the same quality as 2.5 years ago - thick steel, decent welds (better than the welds on the muffler) and so-so chrome. Lots of scrapes and burrs, but I'm going to wrap this one so I'm not too concerned.
The dual center section is much heavier than I expected. It looks like it was lined up on the assembly jig fine but the welds are kinda ugly. Functional, but ugly.
Don't get me wrong - everything looks like it will hold up just fine. But these parts would never pass QC if they were meant for a Subaru or Mitsubishi, by companies like Cobb or Invidia. Heck, I watched the kid at the tuner shop add an extra resonator onto my Invidia WRX exhaust and it looked like a robot did it (perfect and beautiful welds). But as long as they mount properly and sound good I'll be happy. The muffler tips are pretty and that's all anybody will see.
Thank you forbposting pictures of your exhaust system. I have an older RB system on my 1980 and the quality is slightly better as fa as the welds are concerned. I wasn't thoroughly impressed with the welds back in 2014 when I installed it and I feel the same about the welds on your new system.
With that said, as long as it does not leak, which I'm sure it won't and the sounds is good, I wouldn't care too much about the welds. No one really sees them anyways. I want to order an RB system for my 85 but have been skeptical as of the last year about the long shipping times and the less than desirable feelings of sound quality. Will be very interested to hear how you feel this system soudns!
Will be very interested to hear how you feel this system sounds!
With stock exhaust ports it will be quiet enough! This thread startet with portet engine sound problems. Just some wrong posts here.
Difficult to quiet down a portet rotary, but thats what the italien style rb muffler will do, the new dual pipe with the small box didn't.
Last edited by Rx7fb spirit r; May 7, 2021 at 09:30 AM.
The thread started with the OP (peejay) complaining about the sound compared to an older version of the same exhaust that he was replacing ( same engine so apples to apples)
AND
That the new one broke at the welds after only 1000 miles.
As these threads always go though, after many months and 100+ posts there are many different stories and opinions. And I just reread peejay's posts and he states he didn't use the RB factory mounting points. To be fair to RB, he drives his car off-road in fields so what can you expect?
I have zero interest in getting a replacement unless the design as changed. I still have an "old" RB muffler system on my '81, it is very nice. For this car, I will try to make my own setup, and if that can't be done to my satisfaction, because I want the bridgey back in the car, then it is Duratec or K24 time. Probably Duratec because the transmission issue isndead simple and junkyardable.
That's neat. What are you talking about? In his first post he says that he got a new RB exhaust to replace the old rusty one on his car, and that it is much louder and fell apart after 1000 miles. It doesn't matter what kind of build he has... he said he bought a replacement and it isn't as good as the old one. That is what this thread was started about.
That's neat. What are you talking about? In his first post he says that he got a new RB exhaust to replace the old rusty one on his car, and that it is much louder and fell apart after 1000 miles. It doesn't matter what kind of build he has... he said he bought a replacement and it isn't as good as the old one. That is what this thread was started about.
Bridgeport's = higher heat= higher chance of weld failure. That's what I think he was going on about. Be nice!
1200$ is a lot of money to drop on a product that takes such a long wait and whose quality varies from person to person don't you think? The issue in my eyes is not the quality, even the bad one seems OK, the issue is I have no idea of knowing if I'm going to get a good one or the bad one AND here in California we have gnarly *** potholes .. I hit a monster one months and I'm sure that's what cracked my radiator as it started leaking the day after .
Bridgeport's = higher heat= higher chance of weld failure.
Neat. It still has nothing to do with the point of this thread.
OP did not port his engine and then the exhaust fell apart. OP already had the built engine and had no problem with his old RB exhaust on it, for many years. He put a newer RB exhaust on and it fell apart in 1000 miles. That was the point of this thread.
The engine did not change, just the exhaust. The problem was in the exhaust.
Last edited by Maxwedge; May 15, 2021 at 10:10 PM.
Neat. It still has nothing to do with the point of this thread.
OP did not port his engine and then the exhaust fell apart. OP already had the built engine and had no problem with his old RB exhaust on it, for many years. He put a newer RB exhaust on and it fell apart in 1000 miles. That was the point of this thread.
The engine did not change, just the exhaust. The problem was in the exhaust.
Is the point of this thread not about how RB quality has gone down ? His old RB exhaust was fine under heavy heat.. New one busted under heavy heat . Or maybe it busted because he drives on rough roads.. I explained we have rough roads too even in LA , so much so that a pothole busted my rad .. I can assume it would crack **** welds on a Exhaust as well. PJ's old exhaust never broke on country roads either. We are still talking about quality.. If you have a Bridge port or live anywhere with " rough roads "you might not want to drop 1200$ on a NEW rb system .And "germany " understands english quite well , I have spoken to him many, many,times without issue and his RX7 puts all of ours to shame.
Also the weld quality above is preety bad as is the chromed headers.. That looks EBay quality bad..
So is RB building and shipping these systems now? I've been looking at getting a 12A Streetport System, but have been deterred by the long lead time. If I place my order now is it still going to be months (maybe a better question for the boys at RB).
So is RB building and shipping these systems now? I've been looking at getting a 12A Streetport System, but have been deterred by the long lead time. If I place my order now is it still going to be months (maybe a better question for the boys at RB).
